Airplane stop



July 5, 1927.

i c. F. JENKINS AIRPLANE STOP Filed May 21, 1927 obstruction, or into a ditch and noses over.

- and assengerfata'lities.

Patented outrun-stares- PATENT OFFICE.

AIRPLANE STOP.

Application filed May 21,

This invention relatesto airplanes,'.and has for its principal object devices for bringing an airplane to a stop promptly after touching the ground. u A Until now the method of landing an ,airplane consists of shutting off the motor :and gliding down until the wheels and tail-skid touch the ground and then trusting to fortune that the machine will run down before it crashes into some other machine, or an Every other transport vehicle'has means for-stopping it at will; the automobile has brakes which grip the solid road; the motor boat, which rides on a liquid medium, stops by reversing the rotation of its propeller. The airplane moves within the fluid medium which supports it-in flight. But as it issupported only because of its speedit is not safe to use a reversing propeller until the machine touches the ground. Nor are brakes permissible because it noses the machine over, smashing up things.-

-It is to prevent these sources of danger while retaining the controlled stop of reversed blades that this invention aims.

Not only will this mechanism permit stopping the plane in very restricted spaces at will and with as much confidence as if it were a motor boat, but reversing the propeller blades after touching the deck of an airplane carrier would greatly facilitate landing on mother ships. at sea.

And the ability to stop quickly at will, would, on occasions, prevent smashing up the plane in a delayed take-01f, which has already been the cause of a number of pilot ith this and other objects in view the invention consists in the novel details of construction and combinations of parts more particularly pointed out in the claims.

Referring to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, in which like numerals designate like parts in all of the figures Fig. 1 is an airplane; Fig. 2 the tail-skid therein; Fig. 3 the propeller-motor section of the plane; and Fig. 4.- the blade rotating lever and lock therefor.

In the several figures, A is a propeller, the blades of which may be rotated about their longitudinal axis; B a collar slidable along the engine shaft, and connected by links C to levers D on the hub-end of each blade; E a loose ring in a groove on collar 1927. Serial no. 193,258.

' N. is fastened to the tail-skid P, and the other, M, attached to some part of the landing gear truck,-R, which, as usual, supports.

the plane on gsprings, i. e., springs between truck and fuselage.

S is a safety block on the lower end of lever G, which prevents the latch K from being pulled out by the landing gear until the block is moved from under the latch when lever G is pushed forward. Each of the rods M and N has a spring end Z, so that the. shock of landing does not damage the reversing gear before the lever can be moved.

The displacement of the safety block S is the first result of the movement of the hand lever G. This forward movement of the lever also brings the pin T on the lever against one of the detents on the upper end of the locked part of the lever, and further movement partially rotates the blades of the propeller. The further movement referred to is possible only when the lever is unlocked by the landing gear, either the tailskid of the truck, or both, coming into contact with the ground.

' Such setting of the blades in reverse renders the propeller effective in stopping the machine when the engine is turned up to such speed as circumstances may require.

In these specifications the word ground versing gear except when said supporting a gear contacts with the ground.

1 2. The combination, in an airplane, of a motor therein, a supporting landing gear therefor, a propeller driven by said motor,

reversing gear for said propeller, and means for preventing the use of said propeller-reversing gear unt1l after sa1d airplane makes contact with the ground.

3. The combination, 111 an airplane, ot a motor therein, a supporting landing gear therefor, a propeller driven by said motor, reversing gear for said propeller, and means for preventing the use of said propeller-rerel-sing gear until said airplane rests on the means for connecting the landing gear to the locking means to unlock the same when the landing gear contacts with the ground.

5. The combination, inan airplane, of a motor therein, a supporting landing gear therefor, a propeller driven by said motor, reversing gear for said propeller, means for locking said reversing gear, spring means for connecting the landing gear to the locking means to unlock the same when the landing gear contacts with the ground, and means for preventing the unlocking ot' the locking means during the take-off. T

In testimony whereof I have allixed my signature.

CHARLES FRANCIS J ENKINS. 

